Spawns of the Mindrender: Elderbrain's Latest Campaign Combines Lovecraft with Conan

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This week’s interview is about Elderbrain Games’ upcoming D&D campaign Spawns of the Mindrender, the fourth campaign released by the publisher and the latest edition to their homebrew world. The company has been publishing long-term campaign settings for DMs for years, but decided to intertwine the stories together so that a table could play through their other games and explore their world in greater detail.

Spawns of the Mindrender is a dark fantasy adventure for players who have characters leveled 11-15, and sends them into a mountain realm where they’ll have to deal with Lovecraftian entities, barbarian tribes and a realm that is slowly decaying into madness.

One of the big selling points is the involvement of Forgotten Realms inventor Ed Greenwood, who is helping to write some of the book’s content.

We got to speak with Elderbrain CEO Gabor Dan about the book and the collaboration.

How does Spawns of the Mindrender fit into the series of campaigns that Elderbrain has produced so far? I remember past conversations about your campaigns all being part of something larger.

Spawns of the Mindrender is the fourth installment of a series of long-format adventures and campaign settings that describe a region within our world, Eldeïn. This campaign dives deeper into the northern mountain realm of Vordan. There’s an underlying story running through all five books, the last three, including this one and the final one, which centers on the machinations of a larger force in the background, collecting the pieces and ingredients for a grand plan that will be executed in the fifth book.

Is this campaign intended to be played by itself or added onto other Elderbrain campaigns?

All of our books can be played as standalone campaigns, but they connect through this underlying story. There’s no direct continuation from one book to the next, but each campaign ends in a way that allows you to seamlessly continue to the next installment, culminating in the final campaign.

What sorts of inspiration played into Spawns of the Mindrender’s vision and story?

We drew inspiration from movies like Conan the Barbarian and sagas like Mad Max, but set in a harsh, mountainous environment with ice and cold. We wanted to create a unique setting for each of our books, and this one features advanced mechanical technology in a fantasy context, where magic is shunned. It’s a more barbaric setting that evokes a raw, survivalist feel.

How did the Ed Greenwood partnership arise? What is he contributing and how does it fit into your end-product?

I met Ed by chance at Gen Con last year and shared how much his work inspired me. I invited him to join us in creating more one-shots for our Mindscape subscription service, which is live now on our website. For the Spawns of the Mindrender campaign, we’re running a unique program where followers can vote on the content of a mini-scenario Ed is creating. He’s really excited about incorporating these community-driven elements and will present his ideas during our live stream on May 5th, when the project launches. (Editor note: The stream has already occurred as of the time of this story’s publishing.)

What’s something you are excited for players to discover in this book?

I’m excited for players to explore the unique technology in this campaign, which adds a new layer to the D&D experience. The themes of madness and the Lovecraftian horror elements add a chilling atmosphere. Plus, there are numerous exciting side quests, like collecting pieces to activate a gargantuan colossus, evoking the spirit of anime like Voltron, where players can control and upgrade a huge construct to battle kaiju-level monsters.

What’s next after this campaign?

The next and final campaign will be titled Eclipse of the Nightfeeder, and it will be the last piece of the puzzle where this underlying story comes to light, or rather, to darkness. Players will journey into the Abyss and then return to discover the last region of Eldeïn we’ve created, called the Mountainfall, where they will face something truly terrible that has come to this place. This final installment will tie all the threads together into an epic conclusion. We’re also expanding our Mindscape One-Shots subscription series and bringing in more legendary creators to collaborate with us. 

The campaign launched on May 5, 2026.

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We spoke with Elderbrain back in 2025 about how they were approaching incorporating 5.5e rules into their new campaigns.

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